The Silk Road

Coined in the late 1800's by the German traveller Ferdinand von Richthofen, the Silk Road is the general term for the vast network of roads and trade routes that connected the Near East to the Far East.1 As the name implies, the trade routes were mostly set up for the purpose of trading silk from China in the east to many different locales in Europe, the Near East and South Asia to the west. They stretch along a 4,000 mile route across mainland Asia, starting in Eastern China and ending in the Middle East around Egypt. While the name Silk Road infers a single route of trade, there were actually two main arteries that compose the Silk Road. The Northern Route goes from Northeastern China through Central Asia and then south of the Caspian Sea to the Middle East.2

Silk was a very highly sought after material by many different peoples and cultures. Since there was such a high demand for the product, traders were willing to undergo the massive task of transporting it through geographically arduous terrain that was often home to unfriendly raiders that wanted nothing more than to prey on silk caravans. The Silk Road was an important trade route for over 3,000 years, the span of which saw many different kingdoms and empires come and fall along its route. 3